Well this was an eventful week (June 4th - 9th, 2024). It all started with sudden cramping and acid reflux at around 1:00 AM Tuesday. Took some antacids and tried to get back to sleep, tossed and turned all night and never really got much sleep.
By about 7:00 am I decided to looked up my family doctor’s number with the intent of leaving a message but they don’t have an answering service. Instead they have an automated message instructing to call the old Telehealth number that is no longer active.
NOTE: You can now dial 811 to get to Health Connect Ontario
After going through some screening questions I was placed in a call back queue. When they called back I was able to speak with a registered nurse, after providing some more details I was advised: “Don’t pass GO” just have someone drive you directly to the ER immediately.
So off to the ER it was, my lovely wife Lorna drove me to the ER and dropped me off. I was all set to settle in for a long wait, the wait board said there were about 27 people waiting and the latest wait time was 8 hours. Triage went fairly quickly, not much of a backup there.
I was surprised when in about 10 minutes I was brought into the ER department and they immediately began running tests; blood tests, urine test, consult with a nurse practitioner to get more details and history workup. Next was an EKG and then within a few hours I was off to get a CT scan!
By mid-afternoon I was seen by an ER physician, who said “It looks like you have an obstruction in your small intestine. We may be able to send you home and have you contact the gastroenterologist as an out-patient, but he would defer to the enterologists assessment.”
They were waiting for the enterologist to finish a surgery and then have him review my case.
By about 8:00 pm I was advised I was being admitted for observation. No food or water, just IV and they would wait and see if it resolves itself.
Short answer, it didn’t.
On Thursday morning they had me try clear fluids and then did another CT scan that afternoon, the blockage was still there. By Friday afternoon they scheduled me in for surgery and they were able to release the obstruction. It seems I developed an adhesion on the exterior of my small intestine that was constricting one of the folds and causing the obstruction. Once the tissue constricting the loop was released everything started to flow again.
They kept me in until Sunday afternoon to make sure everything was working properly and that I wasn’t showing any signs of complications or post-op infections.
I am now left with 3 small scars on my belly, one on the belly button, one on the mid left side and one on my lower left side.
The care I received at Grand River Hospital was exemplary, everyone was so helpful. From triage nurses, ER nurses, ward nurses, porters, surgical staff, etc. I can’t thank them enough for all the hard work they did to help me get better.
.
